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“All you need is love.”
— John Lennon and Paul McCartney
On Christmas Eve the Churchland Baptist Church at 3031 Churchland Blvd. will, indeed, heed the words of that classic Beatles song as it invites everyone, not just members of its congregation, to its 38th annual Moravian Lovefeast.
The church mainly draws its congregation from Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Western Tidewater. But attendance to the free Christmas Eve service is drawn from all over Hampton Roads.
Considered a gift to the community, the service is based on Eastern European and New Testament traditions.
It was begun more than three decades ago at the Western Branch church by retired church music director Dennis Price and late parishioner Betty Hollowell. The two introduced the concept to the congregation, and community, because of its uniqueness, Price said in a 2016 interview.
“It’s not a program or a concert,” he said, “but a feast, a worship service celebrating Christ’s birth.”
The service draws on old world traditions taken from the Moravian Old Salem community in North Carolina brought over during Colonial times from Bohemia in the Czech Republic.
As the public files into the church sanctuary beginning at 6:30 p.m., they will experience a brass quartet of two trumpets and a pair of trombones performing Moravian and baroque selections.
Servers, also known as “dieners,” clad in the Colonial-era fashion of Old Salem will hand the feast of spiced cider and thin Moravian sugar cookies baked in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to each individual.
The service will include appropriate Scripture readings laced with carols, Moravian songs and classical and contemporary sacred music sung by the church choir conducted by Churchland Baptist’s interim music director Robin Duncan. Duncan is a former student of Price’s who was once a choral teacher at Western Branch High School.
Price has been asked to return to the church to conduct the brass, choir and organ during the processional carol and guest conduct the choir during the singing of Paul Manz’s hymn “E’en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come.”
During the service the assembly will be surrounded by Moravian symbols and decorations including a large multipointed star, green garlands and a Chrismon tree embellished with the traditional Christian symbols of fish, stars and crosses.
The service will end in dramatic fashion when the small beige beeswax candles wrapped in red ribbons that were given to each individual upon entering the church are lit. As the sanctuary lights are dimmed, the collective candles create a warm glow.
“It’s a joyous, celebratory worship service open to all,” Price said in 2017.
The Tuesday service begins with the brass concert at 6:30 p.m. The Lovefeast starts at 7 p.m. For more information, call the church at 484-2351 or visit churchlandbc.org.
ROARING INTO 2020
Well, hot-cha and call me a taxi, ring in the New Year by roaring back into the past, the Roaring ‘20s, that is, into the elegance and revelry of the Jazz Age of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.”
Dress in your finest flapper dress or spats and white suit and dance the Black Bottom, Charleston or Big Apple while awaiting the arrival of the New Year at the historic and posh turn-of-the-century Truitt House — built in 1909 — at 204 Bank St. in Suffolk.
The Gatsby-style, New York City New Year’s party at the Truitt begins at 8 p.m. Dec. 31.
Guests, dressed in 1920s finery, will enter an opulently decorated venue to dance to the hot jazz of the Gatsby Gang Jazz Band, sip on libations served at the speakeasy and dine on appetizers, savories, entrees and desserts created by Chef Harper Bradshaw of Harper’s Table and Chef General Lewis of The General Public.
VIP entry is at 8 p.m. followed by party time and appetizers at 8:30 p.m., the fish course at 8:45, entrees at 9 p.m. and the sweet finale and champagne toast to greet the New Year.
Limited tickets are $150 per person. Get them at tinyurl.com/syk4ja4 or call 370-7454.
NOON YEAR’S EVE?
That’s right, Noon Year’s Eve. It’s an event to give youngsters the chance to celebrate the coming new year early so they won’t have to stay up late.
Weekend Scoop
It happens in Portsmouth from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Dec. 31 at the Noon Year’s Eve Bash at the Winter Wonderland at the Virginia Children’s Museum, 221 High St.
For $5 per person, children of all ages, including mom and dad, will watch the glittery ball drop at noon to celebrate the early arrival of 2020. The bash will also include a Noon Year’s toast with juice, refreshments, face painting, magic performances, balloon making, a photo booth and wagon rides.
Call 393-5258 or visit childrensmuseumvirginia.com.
Children in Suffolk will be able to say howdy to 2020 at Noon Year’s Eve parties from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Dec. 31 at the Morgan Memorial Library at 443 W. Washington St. and the North Suffolk Library at 2000 Bennetts Creek Park Road.
The free all-ages parties will feature a Noon Year’s countdown and balloon drop, crafts, games, dancing and snacks.
Call the Morgan at 514-7323 or the North Suffolk at 514-7150 for more information.
Eric W. Feber, ewjfeber@gmail.com